


Blink Twice If You're Not Joking

by liebstes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Confessions, Fluff, M/M, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, no beta we die like men, only rated teen because i said fuck, the rest of the gaang is mentioned but like. barely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25065274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liebstes/pseuds/liebstes
Summary: zuko and sokka are roommates and so, so gay for each other. zuko's plans to never let sokka know, ever, is harder than anticipated.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 479





	Blink Twice If You're Not Joking

**Author's Note:**

> hi! thanks for reading! hope you enjoy :-)

Zuko was going to die. Right this second. At the young, sweet age of 26, Zuko wished a mental goodbye to his Uncle and prepared for his incoming heart attack. He continued staring at Sokka’s _bare-back_ as his oblivious roommate flipped a pancake and hummed along to a song on his phone. The only piece of clothing Sokka was wearing was a pair of boxers, and Zuko felt his last piece of sanity and heterosexuality slipping away. 

“Uh. Hey,” Zuko started, trying to figure out why his hot friend slash roommate was basically naked making breakfast at 10 am, everyone in the goddamn world knew that Sokka slept in until noon on weekends if he could help it. 

“Oh, hey, dude! Do you want anything in yours? I’m a chocolate chip kind of pancake person myself.” 

Zuko felt a headache coming on. Where was he? Who was this man pretending to be Sokka? They had lived together since _college_ and Zuko had never seen more than a glimpse of Sokka’s bare-back in all the years. It was never a spoken thing, the two of them just didn’t really… flaunt around their apartment like this. Until now, that is. And it did not help Zuko’s giant dorky crush on Sokka.

“I’m good with plain… thanks.”

“Suit yourself, Mr. Boring,” Sokka replied and Zuko felt his eyes rolling without even thinking of it. 

“Shut up. Why are you even up this early? And uh, did you run out of pants?”

“What, a guy can’t make pancakes for him and his roommate in his underwear? Geez, so many rules here,” Sokka said turning around to point the spatula at Zuko teasingly. Oh great, now he got to see the front side of his roommate. Perfect. Peachy. Wonderful. 

Zuko nearly fell off the kitchen stool, mumbling, “Yeah, haha, whatever, I’ll just, uh- I’ll be right back” Before walking back to his room in a daze. _Get control of yourself,_ his brain supplied, as he sat down on his bed with his head in his hands. Just because Sokka was wearing nothing but underwear didn’t mean he could freak out. He was an adult. He had a degree. He had a full-time job. He could handle seeing his hot best friend practically naked. 

After his internal pep-talk, Zuko returned to see Sokka sprawled out on the couch, pancakes in hand, turning on _Cooks vs. Cons_. Zuko signed internally. Sokka may have joined a nudist colony, but he still watched shitty cooking shows that Zuko would rather die than admit he enjoys. Sokka was a decently good cook, and Zuko always bet his roommate enjoyed seeing people make stupid mistakes in the kitchen, like that one time a guy put a half cup of sriracha in chocolate cupcakes, holy shit.

Zuko maintained his cool, grabbing his own plate of pancakes from the kitchen before joining his roommate on the couch. Sokka had dragged a blanket across the lower half of him, thank the gods. 

“Hey, this was just started. This dumbass tried to make pasta and he didn’t even salt the water, I swear to god I thought I was gonna lose it!”

_You’re supposed to put salt in pasta water?_

“Heh, nice. Thanks for breakfast, by the way.”

“Hey, no prob. Listen, I know you wanted to catch up on work today, but I saw they’re doing Love Amongst the Dragons at the theatre for half off today, wanna go?”

Sokka had faced Zuko to ask him the question, and Zuko found himself staring at his roommate’s chest and the syrup that was dotted around his mouth. This was unfair, like, seriously unfair. 

Question. Sokka had asked him a question, which he should probably… answer? “Oh, uh… sure. I guess I could finish the project proposal tomorrow. Wanna go to Zhang’s for dinner then?”

Sokka gave an affirmative thumbs up and mumbled around his mouth full of pancakes. Zuko tried to focus on the ridiculous TV show and his lukewarm breakfast. He could do this. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko, decidedly, could not do this. First, Sokka’s whole _’I’m gonna be casually naked around you now, cool?_ fiasco already had him in a tizzy, but the way Sokka’s hand was resting on Zuko’s arm during the play would be the death of him. He could feel the warmth through his palm, glancing over to see Sokka focusing on the stage in front of them. 

Right, they were here for a play. Zuko’s favorite, actually. So why was he having such a hard time concentrating? The way Zuko’s mind went blank after Sokka tightened his grip, just slightly, answered that for him. 

He had managed to live with his crush on Sokka for years, but the last few months had been harder. Sokka had become more affectionate, slinging his arm around Zuko’s shoulders randomly, brushing his hand against Zuko’s back as they passed in the hall. Sure, it was driving him mad, but it’s not like Zuko could do something about it. What, talk about his feelings? Hilarious. 

Instead, he had chosen the path of suffering in silence. It was worth it to keep Sokka as a friend, Zuko wouldn’t know what to do if Sokka rejected and left him. They had become incredibly close during college, and it had only made sense to move in together afterward. But oh, how badly it had come back to bite Zuko in the ass. 

Zuko tried to enjoy the play for the last quarter, but the kiss between the two main protagonists at the end had him blushing. Maybe he needs glasses, but he swears he sees Sokka’s face turning pink as well. 

Zuko just hoped he could get through dinner without it turning into a major shitshow of his feelings. 

Eating at Zhang’s was, luckily, uneventful except for when the waitress first asked, “Aw, you guys are so cute! How long have you been together?” To which she received blank stares from both Sokka and Zuko. 

They were walking back to their apartment after the restaurant finally closed and effectively kicked them out, and Zuko tried to stop his hands from shivering in his jean pockets. He knew it was futile the moment Sokka glanced over and raised an eyebrow, wordlessly offering his coat as he slipped it off. 

This had happened before, on multiple occasions, as Zuko seemed to forget that cold weather exists and thinks he can survive in jeans and a thin sweater. However, this was the first time Sokka had offered Zuko _the_ blue coat. The one Sokka wore religiously this time of year, that was Gran-Gran had given him a while back. 

Zuko gave a quiet, “Thanks,” before putting the coat on and starting to walk again, but stopped when he noticed Sokka hadn’t moved. 

“What are you doing?”

“I… you just- you look really pretty.”

It seems that Sokka said this without even realizing, as he slapped his hand over his mouth immediately as if that could take back what he said. 

Zuko snapped. His face grew into one of annoyance and anger, as he pointed a finger toward Sokka and huffed out, “Ok! That’s it! Stop it! You can’t just walk around in your goddamn underwear, making me breakfast, basically _hold my hand_ during the play and then tell me I look fucking pretty, okay? It’s not fucking funny Sokka! Like seriously, what am I supposed to do?”

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. But uh, if I’m right about this… well, then you could tell me I’m pretty back.” Sokka said, stepping closer to Zuko and grabbing his wrists. 

“I- What? Your ego’s already big enough, dumbass.” Zuko took a step back, visibly confused. Whatever game Sokka’s playing, isn’t funny, he thought. 

“No, not because of that! Well, maybe partially cause of that. But mainly because I like you and I’m pretty sure you like me, dumbass.”

“You can’t call me a dumbass, I called you one first!” Zuko objected. 

“ _That’s_ what you got out of that?”

Zuko became incredibly still. Wait. Sokka said he liked him? Holy shit, Sokka said he liked him. His mind was reeling, shocked at the confession he thought he would never hear. 

“You like me in like a… romantic way?” Zuko asked in a small voice, seemingly afraid of the answer. 

“Yeah. I do,” Sokka said simply, giving Zuko a grin and getting a small one in return. 

“Well then… I think we’re both dumbasses for not saying anything earlier, huh?” 

“If I have to be a dumbass, at least I’ll be one with you,” Sokka replied, leaning forward to press his lips against Zuko’s, gently. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Sokka:** just letting you guys know, zuko isn’t gonna be my roommate anymore….  
**Zuko:** Sokka I swear to god  
**Aang:** What happened??? Did you guys get into a fight???  
**Katara:** Sokka whatever you did to Zuko, apologize and Zuko whatever you did to Sokka, apologize  
**Sokka:** it wasn't exactly a fight..  
**Toph:** Wait I know what’s happening  
**Suki:** could you enlighten the rest of us then???  
**Sokka:** >:-)))  
**Sokka:** he’s not my roommate anymore, he’s my BOYFRIEND  
**Zuko:** Your boyfriend who is about to break up with you  
**Sokka:** LIES!!!!  
**Toph:** fucking CALLED IT  
**Katara:** Aw I’m glad you both got your heads out of your asses!!  
**Suki:** zuko, if you ever need advice dealing with u know who just hmu!!  
**Aang:** Aww congrats guys!!!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! if you'd like to, i absolutely love getting kudos or comments, let me know what you thought!!


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